fractured_agent | Dead Man Walking... Again [for slayers

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Dead Man Walking... Again [for slayers_desire]

It isn't the first time things have gone horribly wrong. But this is definitely new and novel, baffling and slightly terrifying.

Jack stands in the autopsy room, at the side of the gurney holding the dead body of Owen Harper. Dead... but not lifeless. Owen sits on the edge of the gurney, poking disbelievingly into the congealed bullethole in his own chest, and lifts two fingers to his own throat to feel for a pulse that isn't there. A sinister-looking metal gauntlet lays on the floor, forgotten in the chaos of Owen's miraculous undeath until Ianto scoops it up.

What did I do?

Things are getting out of hand. And while Jack doesn't know for sure who to call, his first choice - the Doctor - won't answer his phone. Fortunately, his second choice is no poor-man's replacement herself.

While Owen gets dressed, Jack steps to the side to make a call.

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"I'll send him your way," Clark says. He's concerned about what she's involved in, but he also trusts her to know the situation and her own abilities, and trusts her judgment. "Be careful."

"That is why I am getting back-up. Love you." April smiles softly. She then gives Jack the good news. "J'onn in on his way. So let's bring in that glove, and see what we are dealing with."

Jack leans out of his office doorway for a moment. "Hey Tosh, we need to borrow the glove for a minute."

"Just a second!" she replies, disconnecting the wires she was using to analyze the artifact. She takes a small scraping of metal from one of the fingers, then brings the glove over to Jack's desk. "I'm not done running tests, so I'll need it back when you're done."

"Thank you. We will."

April sets up the PINpoint location right in Jack's office, so J'onn won't have to go through the main Hub, or call attention to the fact that someone else is being called in.

J'onn is still getting used to PINpoint travel, and he looks around in curiosity at his new environment for a moment. He's in his human disguise, far less conspicuous than his natural green form.

"Hey, welcome to the Hub," Jack introduces himself with a smile, despite the gravity of the situation. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"John Jones," J'onn says with a nod. "I hear there's a matter of great import that needs my help," he says to April.

"Yes. There is a dark entity in this glove. And part of it has possessed one of Jack's teammates. I wanted to investigate further, but felt it was in my best interest to have my mind shielded -- in case the entity tries to claim any part of my mind."

J'onn nods. "A prudent suggestion. I will guard you."

"Anything I can do?" Jack asks.

"Watch for anything weird. Or any reactions from Owen. We don't know what this might do in reaction."

April places her hands on the glove, to start tuning her voices to the object, and the entity that exists within it.

J'onn stands behind her, and while physical gestures are not strictly necessary, he finds it easier to focus. So he places his hands on the sides of her head, creating a shield around her mind with his hands and with his own powers.

There's a hunger in the glove, a deep malevolence. This is no gentle death, no inevitable end to life. It wants to seek out the weak and the helpless, and feed on their life force. Thirteen people is all it would take to let it roam the Earth unchecked.

On the other side of the Hub, Owen shudders, and his eyes turn solidly black for a moment. Melenkurion abatha, duroc minas mill khabaal.

"I sense a malevolence. A hunger. It is seeking people. 13 in total." She tunes again, to see if there is a way to stop the entity.

"What happens after thirteen?" Jack asks. He's watching Owen closely, but the young man has his back turned towards them, so he doesn't notice the change in Owen's eyes.

The death entity cannot be permanently defeated, but it can be weakened. The destruction of the glove will scatter what remains of it there. The part of it in Owen has to be defeated by the host's hand once it finally emerges, if he has faith that he can succeed, and accept that he has nothing left to lose.

"The entity in the glove then roams free."

"The only way to stop is to destroy the glove. And the part in Owen, has to be defeated by him. But he has to have faith."

The glove suddenly twitches beneath her hands, turning itself over in an attempt to latch onto her hands. She's too close to the truth, too close to stopping it, and it refuses to stand for that.

"Whoa!" Jack exclaims.

April react quickly, placing a psychic shield around the glove, so it can not latch onto her. "It is in survival mode. Check on Owen."

It can't grab her, but it's strong, and its evil presence beats away at the psychic prison, lashing out to the mind behind it. J'onn weaves his shields together with hers, combining their strength together to keep it contained.

"Owen!" Jack calls, quickly striding across the Hub.

Owen's partially collapsed across his desk, and for a moment Jack has a difficult time telling if he's still with them or not, with no heartbeat or breath to check.

"Jack... I think we need to destroy it now." April keeps her psychic shield in place, grateful she called in J'onn for support.

Martha rushes to Owen's side, although her own training as a doctor has limited knowledge on how to treat a dead patient. "Owen, can you hear me?"

Owen's eyes snap open, and the blackness is gone, but there's fear in them.

Jack nods decisively at April's statement. "Rip it apart."

"J'onn... we need to focus our combined strength to shrink this psychic shield so tight around this thing... that it is crushed." It is the safest way to destroy the object, without touching it after all.

J'onn is slightly distracted by whatever is happening to Owen, but he regains his focus quickly, and nods. "Agreed. I will follow your lead." He interweaves his power with hers even more tightly, until they are nearly indistinguishable as separate forms of power.

April starts to focus on making the psychic shield smaller and smaller, so that it starts to crush the glove. She expects the entity to fight back -- so all her focus is on keeping the psychic shield in place.

Hopefully, Jack can handle what is happening with Owen.

J'onn works in tandem with her, shrinking the shield. The glove thrashes as much as it can, and a cold deathly energy seeps from it, trying to seek out the closest warm body to drain of life.

If Owen could breathe, he would be gasping for air now. "There's something in the dark..."

He has to fight the darkness Jack. April can only quickly send a mental message to Jack. Her concentration on making the shield smaller and smaller. Inch by inch.

The metal in the glove groans and shrieks as it deforms, and there's an unearthly howl behind the sound. It makes one last attempt to lash out past the psychic shields.

Jack grabs Owen to steady him. "You can kick its ass, Owen. I know you won't let it take you."

April holds steady as the glove makes a last attempt to lash out past her psychic shields. She knows that if it got free -- no one here would be safe. And so, she just makes her shield smaller and smaller.

Under the combined psychic force of April and J'onn, the glove buckles into a crumpled ball of metal, and a massive burst of energy surges out of it and into the other side, leaving it empty.

Owen growls in a voice not his own. "Melenkurion abatha, duroc minas mill khabaal!"

The words mean nothing to Jack, but he grabs Owen's shirt collar and shakes him a bit. "Fight it!"

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